Great Venice Toy Drive Underway Until Dec. 6

The holiday event sponsored by the Venice Neighborhood Council started Monday with a toy collection drive that will last through Dec. 6 and culminate with a toy give-away Dec. 8 at Oakwood Recreation Center.

A toy give-away and holiday festival will be held Dec. 8 at the Oakwood Recreation Center from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. Children up to age 16 who are present with a parent or guardian will be able to select a toy starting at 10 a.m. on a first come, first served basis. The holiday festival will feature real snow and children will be able to receive one free photo with Santa Claus from 10 a.m. to noon. There also will be arts and crafts, food and a bounce house.

The Great Venice Toy Drive made its debut last year in response to community concerns about the lack of a toy giveaway in the Venice area.

“Last year, the Great Venice Toy Drive ensured that over 250 Venice children had a toy for the holiday season,” said toy drive team member Mariana Aguilar, a member of the Venice Neighborhood Council, in a statement. “This year, with help from sponsors such as Ron’s Thursday Night Soccer Club, we hope to not only provide each child with a toy, but also an incredibly special day.”

The Great Venice Toy Drive Holiday Festival is less than a week away! If you haven’t left a new, unwrapped, non-violent toy at one of our drop-off locations–now is the time to do so! Please visit one of our partners by December 6 and look for the bin with our flier: Abbot’s Habit, The Cow’s End, and, now, for our Rose Corridor friends, Oscar’s Cerveteca/Venice Beach Wines. We will also be at the Venice Farmers’ Market on December 7.

We will be giving the toys away at Oakwood Recreation Center on Saturday December 8 from 10am-2pm. Help is still needed for the event. If you’d like to volunteer, please contact us at VNC_ToyDrive@venicenc.org. If you’d like to lend out a large holiday decoration (fake trees, etc.) for the day, we will happily take that too and return it to you after the event. More than anything, however, we need those toys! Please pitch in in any way possible and help us make December 8 a superfantastic day for Venice kids!